John Calvin defined three marks of a church: 1. Preaching the Word of God.
2. Practicing the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper.
3. Church discipline.
Baptism defines the membership of the church family. Baptism is a ceremonial washing, from the Old Testament, that displays how the LORD Jesus can wash away our sin and give us a new birth. By baptism we are accepted into the church family.
At Farm Fellowship we baptise chidren so that they can be properly discipled within the church family. Just as children were marked as members of the church community in Genesis 17 by circumcision, so also now children are marked as members of the church community through baptism.
BUT, having defined the church family, we also need to maintain the membership of that church family. The preaching of the Word of God is the basic way in which this is done. As the Word id faithfully and powerfully preached, so the errors and sins of the church family are brought into the light and corrected. However, when a church member will not repent of their sin, even when repeatedly challenged by the elders of the church, they will need to be cut off from the church family in order to be brought to repentance.
The purpose of this church discipline is to protect the church family from sin and also to bring that sinful church member to repent. If sin is tolerated in the church family so it will lead us all into sin: the yeast will effect the whole batch. If the sin is confronted and driven out, the body is protected.
The Christian who is disciplined in this way may well suffer torments of conscience and even bodily harm as they fall outside of the protection fo the church. Yes, they are handed over to the devil when they are put outside the church fellowship. However, that time of challenge and discipline often leads to real brokenness and repentance. As soon as the brother or sister repents, then they can be brought back into the family, with real warmth and love.
If their sin was public and know to the whole community, then it is right for their repentance and restoration to also be made widely known. The honour of Christ's name is at stake in this. It is important that the public shame brought to Him might be remedied by the public repentance of the returning Christian.
